Two sisters. Two kitchens. One love for cooking.

Posts Tagged ‘pizza’

My girlfriends and I affectionately refer to ourselves as the BCG+V (Broad Cove Girls and Val). We have all been friends since elementary school and although we often go long periods of time without seeing each other, when we get together it is as if no time has passed. Most of us were in town for our friends Eliza and Scott’s wedding so we decided to all get together for dinner. All of our parents ended up joining and, needless to say, we all had a blast. Okay now onto the food.

The menu

Appetizer:

Guacamole and chips

Mediterranean platter (courtesy of Val)

Spicy Southwest dip (courtesy of Pat)

Dinner:

Broco-slaw

Pulled pork

Green Salad

Grilled Pizzas

Dessert:

Lemon pound cake with freshly picked berries (courtesy of Val)

Although there are so many yummy and wonderful dishes to pick from, I decided to focus on how to make grilled pizza for this post.

This probably is nothing new, but my number one trick when having people over for dinner is to prepare as much as possible before your guest arrive. You will have a lot more fun and be a lot less stressed out.

When making grilled pizzas you have to act pretty fast and it certainly is a two person job. I pre-cooked all of the toppings and rolled out the dough so that I could enjoy the appetizer time and when I needed to start cooking I could be ready to move fast.

When it comes time to cook your pizzas make sure you grab a friend! Turn on the grill so it warms up nicely and brush one side of the dough with olive oil.

Place the dough onto the grill and cook until golden brown. Cook with the heat on medium. (I made the mistake of cooking on high heat and burnt the first one a bit!) While the dough is cooking, brush the top side of the dough with oil to prep for when you flip the dough.

Once you flip the dough he need to move fast placing all of your toppings so that everything can get warm and the cheese will melt before you over cook the other side of the dough. We shut the lid for this portion of the cooking so that the heat would be trapped in, aiding in the warming and melting process. Let cook until the dough is crispy and golden.

Allow the pizzas to sit for a few minutes then cut and serve. I promise these will be a big hit!

I have fond memories of make your own pizza night growing up. I remember my Mom would make the pizza on a rectangular cookie sheet and for the life of my I could not understand why we just couldn’t make round pizza. Fast forward 20 some years and I too often make my pizza on a cookie sheet but no longer see problems with it. Sigh…I guess mothers do know best!

Pizza is a food that seems to have a bad reputation. However with the some what recent surge in gourmet pizza you can certainly take a must more healthy and fancy approach to something that is so often seen as junk food. This past Sunday I invited Catherine and FBIL (future brother-in-law) over for what we have coined as Sunday Suppers, I was more than excited when my roommate Leah joined us! One the menu: Overloaded Homemade pizza and side salad.

I normally buy the pre-made dough from the grocery store but no that I am no longer afraid of yeast I decided to make my own. I used this receipt from Rhodeygirl tests for whole wheat pizza dough. This was so simple and wonderful! I made the dough Friday night and wrapped it up in the refrigerator until Sunday-so nice to have it made in advance. Also, this makes a lot of dough so I sections off a small portion of it to freeze and use for an individual pizza for myself at a later point!

C brought over a gluten-free pizza dough from Bob’s Red Mill so that she too could join in the pizza feast! This dough is much thicker and more biscuit like, but having tried a piece I must say I think it tasted really good!!

First we prepped the dough by painting olive oil on them and pre cooking them in the over. I read about this in the recipe for the pizza dough, I had never done it before but it makes all the difference in the world and keeps the dough from getting soggy. I love when I pick up new cooking tricks!

Now it is time to top it! We used a TON of different ingredients including:

pesto

spinach

balsamic roasted potatoes

mushrooms

red onions

broccoli

chicken sausage

goat cheese

shredded mozzarella

check out some of the toppings!

My motto for pizza toppings: The more the merrier!

I kept that salad a lot more simple. I used a bag of spring mix from Trader Joe’s and candied a few almonds and topped with dried cranberries and a balsamic vinaigrette.

After about 20 mins (closer to 3o for the GF pizza) in a 425 degree oven your pizzas are ready!

Now take a look at those!!

Whole wheat crust:

Gluten Free Version:

I am not calling them health food, but still these are much healthier and much more satisfying than your typical greasy pizza. Although, I’m not going ot lie the greasy pizza does taste good once and a while!

Do you ever host Sunday Suppers to kick off the week on the right foot? What are your Sunday traditions?